Morning Walk At Upper Pierce Reservoir (18 Dec 2014)

I was deciding among several places for my morning macro-photographing trip and finally decided to go Upper Pierce Reservoir. The last trip to the place was pretty interesting even though it was a short trip (Picnic At Upper Pierce Reservoir (22 Oct 2014). My intention for the trip was to check out the long road leading to the Upper Pierce Reservoir car park.

Unsurprisingly, the first beetle that I encountered was a Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) as the place was full of this type of beetle when I last visited the place. Unlike previous Hoplasoma unicolor Leaf Beetle that I have encountered, this particular specimen remained absolutely still for me to photograph.

After a good ten minutes of walking around without finding any other beetles, I  contemplated whether to change to another location such as Venus Drive. Just then this beautiful first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle appeared right in front of me. I came across this lovely beetle on the internet before but doubted if it was found in Singapore. Because of this lovely beetle, I decided to stick to my original plan and continued with my walk along the long road.

After walking for a while without finding another beetle, this small 3 mm Jewel Beetle (probably Trachys sp.) was a welcomed find. This particular specimen was so alert that it promptly flew off after 2 photographs.

Near to the Jewel Beetle was a Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) found on a fish tail palm (Caryota mitis).

Coming to a patch of Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa) plants, I was surprised to find several different 1 to 2 mm Ladybird Beetles.

The vegetation along the road seemed pretty barren and I didn't find any beetles until I came across a tree with a lone beetle larvae on it.

Just as I reached the end of the road, I finally found a first-time-encountered 1 mm Weevil Beetle on a Hairy Clidemia plant (Clidemia hirta).

Turning back and moving along the opposite side of the road, several of this Leaf Beetle (Colasposoma auripenne) were found hiding among the leaves of a low tree.

Coming to patch of Simpoh Air plants, I was surprised to see a few of my favorite white Ladybird Beetle flying among the Simpoh Air plants. This is a difficult beetle to photograph as it is very alert and would fly away upon the slightest of movements.

Walking along the road, I was delighted to find this 3 mm Fungus Beetle.

At about 150 meters from where I started, a Weevil Beetle was found resting under a leaf.

At about 50 meters from the starting point, I found several of this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) flying around a bird's nest fern.

Near to the Tumbling Flower Beetle was a Leaf Beetle (Aulacophora frontalis).

A stone's throw away, I was surprised to find another Leaf Beetle.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter of this small 3 mm Jewel Beetle. I have been looking out for this beetle as the photographs taken during the last encounter with this beetle was not so good.

The trip yielded two first-time-encountered beetles and also several not so commonly encountered beetles, but comparatively it is not as fruitful given the low number of beetles found versus the distance I have to travel to find them.

Picnic At Upper Pierce Reservoir (22 Oct 2014)

Today is a public holiday (Deepavali) in Singapore and a group of friends decided to go to Upper Pierce Reservoir for a morning picnic. The weather was still hazy despite the heavy rain the day before.

Besides the usual picnic stuff, I decided to bring my camera to see if I can get some beetle actions while at the place. It has been a while I last went to Upper Pierce Reservoir as it is not accessible without a car and also the main gate to the place closes at 7 pm. In any case, the place is not as productive in terms of finding beetles as compared to the other nearby reservoirs, and hence I would not visit the place intentionally.

Taking a little bit of time off from the picnic gathering and I managed to take a short walk around the place. The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) for the morning was about 60, making the place looked like it was shrouded with mist.

One of the critters that I came across at the place was this not so commonly encountered Green Crested Tree Lizard (Bronchocela cirstatella). This type of tree lizard used to be very common in Singapore but over the years they have been displaced by the more aggressive Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor). The latter is so prolific that you can find them anywhere in Singapore -  along roadsides, home garden and even in our shopping and business districts.

The first beetle that I came across was a surprise. It was a Fungus Beetle with a pair of nasty looking hooks on its elytra. If I remember correctly, I only encountered this beetle about two times before. This beetle was found at the most unlikely of places, it was on a small 25 cm rock under a tree.

Here's another shot of the beetle. I decided to have additional photographs of the same beetle posted due to the low number of beetles encountered.

The next beetle encountered was a Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis), commonly found on the Singapore Rhododendron plant (Melastoma malabathricum).

While looking around the low trees, I saw a yellow speck that flew under a low bush. I quickly rushed to see what it would be. I was pleasantly surprised to find a first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. I initially thought that it was the Hoplasoma unicolor Leaf Beetle which is a commonly encountered beetle at Upper Pierce Reservoir. I particularly like the yellow color elytra.

The last beetle encountered was the Hoplasoma unicolor Leaf Beetle which you can find flying among the Clerodendrum villosum plants in large number.

This was an unintentional trip and finding a first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle and also the interesting looking Fungus Beetle made me want to take the time to blog about it.